Chicago - Architecture

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Citicorp Center

This is Northwestern Atrium Center /Citicorp Center ...
completed in 1987 ...
designed by the architectural firm Murphy/Jahn ...

This 42 story, 588-foot tall glass-&-steel structure ...

Click on the image for enlarged view ...

The first two floors house a major commuter railroad station serving the north and west suburbs.
- The north and south façades resemble a waterfall with cascading curves of blue glass. The architect used similar forms on the interior of the Chicago Board of Trade Addition.
- The main entrance on Madison is a recessed telescoping archway, a device used by early Chicago architect Louis Sullivan in the Transportation Pavilion at the 1893 World's Fair.
- This is the tallest all-glass building in Chicago.

One South Wacker Drive

One South Wacker Drive ...
Completed in 1982 ...
designed by Helmut Jahn ..
Bordering streets : South Wacker Drive and West Madison Street ...

This massive mountain of glass-&-steel has all glass curtain walls in three colors ... black, silver & pink ... But on a clear day like this it always has a bluish-tinge ...

Click on the image for enlarged view ...

James R Thompson Center

Click on the image for enlarged view ...
It was completed in 1985 ..
Architect is Helmut Jahn ..

James R Thompson Center [named after a four-term Illinois governor].

The building houses state government offices, a post office, a rapid transit station. ... and . It is an example of post-modern architecture ... with sloping glass wall from one corner of the block to another. It looks like a spaceship has landed on the roads ... a big, shiny, cheerful spaceship.

Thursday, December 6, 2007

The Museum Campus

Click on the image for enlarged view ...

Chicago's "Museum Campus" was opened in June 1998 ... It was created by the $110 million reconfiguration of Lake Shore Drive ... The Campus is Chicago Park District land that connects three Chicago cultural institutions ...
- The Shedd Aquarium,
- Field Museum,
- Adler Planetarium ...

The new Soldier Field was opened to the public in September 2003 ... This 'Stadium in a Park’ ... is another feature of the Museum Campus.

The Field Museum

Shedd Aquarium

Click on the image for enlarged view ...

Adler Planetarium

Click on the image for enlarged view ...

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

The Marquette Building [designated "Chicago Landmark"]

Address: 140 S. Dearborn St.
Year Built: 1895
Architect: Holabird & Roche
Date Designated a Chicago Landmark:June 9, 1975

The building is named for Jacques Marquette, a French Jesuit missionary and explorer who, in 1674-75, wintered in the area that is now Chicago.

The lobby is decorated with mosaic panels made by the Tiffany firm and bronze heads of native Americans, animals, and early explorers.

In this building, an appropriate exterior aesthetic expression for the then-new, steel-framed skyscraper was found. The facade clearly reveals its underlying structure--with broad windows set in a framework of narrow piers and spandrels. Its open and well-lit interior layout, built around a central light court, significantly influenced the design of modern high-rise commercial structures.

Reference: http://www.ci.chi.il.us/Landmarks/M/Marquette.html

Monday, September 10, 2007

Manhatten Building [designated, "Chicago Landmark"]

Year Built: 1891
Architect: William Le Baron Jenney
Date Designated a Chicago Landmark: July, 1978.

Manhatten Building is one of the pioneers in the development of tall buildings. It reached the then astounding height of 16-story in 1891.

A plaque on the building reads ...
" The Manhatten is Chicago's oldest surviving steel-frame building. It's architect was a pioneer in the development of steel frame construction, which along with the invention of elevator, made possible the modern skyscraper. bay windows admit maximum light to the interiror spaces. "

Designated a Chicago landmark on July 7, 1978
By the City Council of Chicago
Michael A Bitandic, Mayor
Commission of Chicago historical and Architectural landmarks.

Reference: Manhatten Building", click here ...

click on the image for enlarged view ...

South Dearborn Street - II

The South Dearborn Street Printing House Row ... has many designated Chicago Landmark structures which reflect some early skyscrapers and some of the finest achievements of the "Chicago School" of architects...
* The Manhattan Building by William Le Baron Jenny, the first complete steel skeleton building, with wind bracing
* The Fisher building by Daniel Burnham, an early curtain-wall structure;
* The Old Colony Building by Holabird and Roche, using Corydon Purdy's wind bracing system;
* Monadnock Building, by Burnham and Root (north section) and Holabird and Roche (south section), one of the largest masonry bearing-wall structures ever built.

In the above picture we see [clockwise from top left] Old Colony Building, Fisher Building, Monadonock Building ... and a modern building.

In the picture below we see Monadonock [right] and Fisher and Old Colony building refelcted in a modern building.

Reference: South Dearborn Street, click here ...

click on the image for enlarged view ...

South Dearborn Street - I

click on the image for enlarged view ...

Monadnock Building [designated "Chicago Landmark"]

Address: 53 W. Jackson Blvd.
Year Built: North half 1889-91; South half 1891-93
Architect: Burnham & Root; Holabird & Roche
Date Designated a Chicago Landmark: November 14, 1973

click on the image for enlarged view ...

click on the image for enlarged view ...

The two halves of this building provide a unique perspective for examining the history and development of modern architecture.

The north part.. famed for its lack of traditional ornamentation--is a masonry, wall-bearing structure, the last skyscraper to employ this method of construction, with six-foot thick walls at the base.

The south addition, on the other hand, is an early example of steel-frame construction, its underlying structure revealed through narrow piers and wide windows.
Together, they mark the end of one building tradition and the beginning of another.

Reference: Monadonock Building, click here ...

Sunday, September 9, 2007

CME - Chicago Mercantile Exchange

click on the image for enlarged view ...

click on the image for enlarged view ...

Shots taken in Sep, 2007.

Chicago City Hall [Designated "Chicago landmark"]

click on the image for enlarged view ...

click on the image for enlarged view ...
Shots taken in March, 2007.

Address: 121 N. LaSalle St./118 N. Clark St.
Year Built: 1905-08 and 1909-11
Architect: Holabird & Roche
Date Designated a Chicago Landmark:
January 21, 1982